Zimbabwe Women&#039;s Bank to open by September

WOMEN Affairs, Gender and Community Development Minister Nyasha Chikwinya has said the much awaited Women’s Bank will open for business by September this year.

Mooted some years ago, the bank has taken long to come to fruition due to various reasons, but the Government allocated $10 million for its capitalisation in the 2017 national budget.

Minister Chikwinya told the Senate on Thursday that the bank had already acquired its headquarters in Harare with renovations already underway.

She also said a chief executive officer had already been identified.

Minister Chikwinya said the bank would use some of POSB branches dotted across the country to reach out to women in rural areas,.

“The ministry already has a solid relationship with POSB because it is the only bank which has branches throughout the country but some of those branches had been closed so we discussed with them and they agreed that we would use them,” she said.

The minister said women would soon be able to access loans to improve their businesses.

Zimbabwe has many banks but women have always complained of being marginalised when it comes to accessing loans for projects.

The women complained about the insistence by banks for collateral security for loans, yet for most of them their assets are registered in their husbands’ names.